Hockey Discussions > Midget Hockey

College Decisions

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Strawman:
Good perspective. At some levels AAA hockey in California costs closer to $30k than to $15k, and that doesn’t even include all the select camps, combines etc. that many AAA players do. That bill makes it really hard not to consider [size=78%]the other options you discuss.[/size]

Hockeykid:
 Just my story of my son’s decision on academics over hockey. Sorry it’s so long.
My son is graduating from High School this month, and this fall he’ll be attending college at the number one ranked public college in the US & 15th in the nation (per Forbes). I’m not trying to brag, it’s just part of the story.
My son always dreamed of playing in the NHL & NCAA D1 College hockey, but around his junior HS year, reality hit. He realized the odds of making it big were against him.
I also wanted him to chase “the dream” as he’s always been obsessed with hockey! He puts in the work too, as he’s on the ice about 5 times a week & stickhandles, shoots pucks, and works out just about every day.
His sophomore and junior HS years he played AA hockey, driving two hours round trip to practices, three days a week & getting home at 11:30pm. He was able to keep up with his AP homework and maintain his GPA, but it was tough. He started progressively realizing playing up a level to AAA hockey his senior year season wouldn’t allow him to maintain his GPA. He knew it’d be too demanding on his time and would cause him to miss too many school days due to playing far away hockey tournaments, putting in more hours of windshield time, and attending showcases for a week at a time. So for his HS senior year he made a mature decision to play down a level from AA at the local club five minutes from our house, and concentrate on getting into a great college. He wanted to make sure he had time to raise his SAT score, keep up his GPA, take additional AP classes, and finish strong his senior HS year. At the time I wasn’t happy he decided not to play AAA hockey with teammates, but I couldn’t disagree with his logic.
While he was filling out his college applications, I asked him if he wanted to take a couple years off before going to college to chase “the dream”. He told me “I have no desire to go play junior hockey back east in the cold, with a bunch of kids who are just looking to have a good time. Plus, I don’t want to beat up my body with all the games and practices for the chance of playing NCAA D1 or D3 hockey.
His decision has really paid off, as he was accepted to many outstanding colleges.
Now my son plans on playing ACHA D2 hockey for his college, get his bachelor’s degree & then attend law school. This is now his goal and makes him extremely happy.
 
For my son, going straight into a great college to start his education and playing ACHA hockey is right for him. The California ACHA teams still get to play about 25 games a season and sometimes two or three practices a week (late night or early morning) for a total of about 30-40 a season. College ACHA teams are mostly self funded & cost around $3K per player, so the budget is only around $100K.
 
But I still feel like my son is missing out as he has the rest of his life to go to school and work, but only a few years to play junior hockey and have a great time. Just the other day, I read about a 21 year old junior hockey player who was accepted into the University of Utah to play ACHA D1 hockey. I would have loved for my son to follow this path, but it’s not what he wanted. This weekend it was extremely painful for me, as it was AAA tryout weekend & I felt he should have been attending the 18AAA tryouts (as he a 2001, and still has one year left of AAA eligibility).
 
BTH - Jr hockey may have bad influences that make your kid do stupid things, but frat parties in college are the same thing & can be even worse.
 

CahaMama:
Stick taps all around to your kid Hockeykid! He sounds like a mature, wise kid that you can be proud of. This goes to show that every family makes decisions based on what is good for their family. There is no formula, no guaranteed path to success. If you're a California kid, the chances of making it to the NHL or even Div1 are so small. Kids have to move back east to be seen. That's just a fact.


At least now you will have your weekends back and maybe find a hobby of your own. It's tough after years of sacrifice.

gr8wrk:
In the end only D1 or the WHL are roads to the NHL if you live in CA which means Tier1 Elite or Prep School at age 16.  D3 is mostly for kids who played Tier 1 elite or prep or played juniors in Montana or Texas (forget about playing in the WSHL).   ACHA D1 is gaining popularity as D3 kids switch to schools they would rather play at since D3 is a dead end too. 

cog254:
FWIW, My 2000 son spent his senior year playing in WSHL (gasp) and really enjoyed it, making some life long friends along the way. He knows he won't be the next Quick or Fluery and is okay w that. He wanted a "big college" experience and still be able to play hockey. He leaves for Ole Miss Aug 19th and will play for the ACHA team. The SEC has 16 teams and its pretty good hockey, plus he can enjoy all the fun of the big football games and join a fraternity and do ROTC, while still getting to play a decent level of hockey.  I am proud of him and can't wait to see him in net with an Ole Miss Rebels jersey on. I think he made the right decision over playing another 2 years of junior then going to some tiny D3 school on the east coast just to play.  Anyway, just my 2 cents.   

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